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Naruto has gone on as a series, and now franchise, for well over two decades. Over 15 OVAs (or Original Video Animations) have been produced and sold during that time, ranging from serious missions to showing Naruto's coronation as Hokage.
An OVA is akin to a direct-to-video release wherein the animation isn't long or budgeted enough for a movie, but nor is it enough for television. Famous ones include Attack on Titan: "No Regrets," which chronicles Levi's life, and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, which shows how Char Aznable rose to prominence.
For the series part, some of the OVAs are great, others are too short, and the rest are just weird. These are the 10 best OVAs from Naruto, ranked from mundane to sublime.
Note: Spoilers are included for all, this list reflects the author's opinion.
Naruto's 10 interesting OVAs, ranked
10) The Konoha Sports festival
One of the more fun and gut-bustingly hilarious OVAs is at the bottom of the list. It's a short one, at around 10 minutes, but it's at the bottom. Why? Because despite being funny, it's mostly based around one joke: Naruto needs the bathroom.
The OVA itself is fairly straightforward, Konoha is having a sports festival and the winner gets a vacation for a whole week. Hilarity ensues when Uzumaki desperately needs the bathroom but cannot get to it for one reason or another, like the line being too long, the bathroom being closed, and other characters bumping into him.
Another hilarious part is the sheer amount of background characters involved, from a giant Gamabunta to Akatsuki in the bathroom line! Humor being too juvenile is why this gets the worst spot.
9) Naruto x UT
So, this one is generally a music video and flashback. It's a well animated, well-choreographed, and exceptionally nostalgic music video, but that's all it is. If one is only interested in the fight scenes and some of the character stuff with a really good song to it, this will definitely hold them over.
It's also one of the shortest ones, but otherwise is still worth a watch if only for the professional AMV quality of it.
8) Mission: Protect the Waterfall Village!
The supposed "lost story" OVA tells the story of a hostage crisis in a waterfall village. What's notable about this one is that everyone gets captured here. After drinking the Hero Water, the villains are defeated by the combined efforts of Shibuki, Naruto and Sasuke. It's tense, great to watch, and feels like a classic Naruto adventure.
7) Naruto, the Genie, and the Three Wishes
This one is more humor-filled than the sports festival was and is rather more on point with its humor. From Naruto using up their first two wishes, to Shino getting screentime to talk about himself before being interrupted, to poor Hinata being forced to choose between everyone at the end, it's a laugh fest from start to finish. Even Kakashi came in at the end to ask for coins for the vending machine.
This one is just fun to watch. Unfortunately, the genie vanishes and won't be seen again for another thousand years.
6) The Cross Roads
This one is interesting due to its use of game footage, or at least what looks like a blend of 3D from Ultimate Ninja Storm to tell a story. It's a good story, too, with Team 7 having to defeat someone with a demonic chakra.
The twist being that he was a rival of Orochimaru. It's got great action and a very twisted ending that ties straight into the series with Sasuke's dealings with Orochimaru.
5) The Day Naruto Became Hokage
Naruto became Hokage. What more is there to say? The boyhood dream came true and he was kind of late for it due to his kids rough housing. It's a cute OVA about fatherhood and its challenges that perfectly sets Boruto up. Konohamaru having to stand in is funny, and of course, the confirmation of Naruto and Hinata's marriage is always sweet.
4) Naruto vs Konohamaru: Exam Of Flame!
So, Naruto becoming Hokage was a huge landmark for the series. So was Konohamaru's making it to Chunin. It was a highly emotional fight between the two friends, and it was cathartic to see the grandson of the Third Hokage come into his own in the fight.
The fact that the future Hokage got banned from using Sage Mode after an intense battle is just funny on top of everything else.
3) Ninja Escapades
A longer compilation mixture from Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution (one of the longest Naruto game titles), this features three separate OVAs: the Far Reaches of Hope that chronicles Obito's relationship with his team; The Two Uchiha, which tells of Shisui Uchiha and his friendship with Itachi; and the Creation of the Akatsuki.
All three give further insight into the characters fans adore, with Akatsuki's creation giving more as to how the various members were recruited and got their weapons.
It's a long combined OVA, but definitely worth the time.
2) Shippū! Konoha Gakuen Den!
One of the most unique OVAs, based off the second end of Shippuden, casts all the characters fans know and love into a high school setting. That may sound weird, but it's also shown on manga panels and features stills with Hinata, Sakura, and Ino narrating. It's written like the Yakuza game series: Full of conflict, drama, and dating shenanigans. It's only 8 or so minutes long.
Some people are still waiting for a fully animated series based on this OVA.
1) Sunny Side Battle
This is an OVA packed with symbolism and metaphors that requires some breaking down. First off, the Uchiha building that Sasuke and Itachi grew up in is still standing.
Second, all the eggs have Sharingan Eyes on them. Itachi trying his best to give Sasuke something or rather, anything good in this world is represented by him trying to get "the perfect sunny side" eggs.
After many tries, he succeeds only for Sasuke to say he's had better. Sasuke has been on the gray side of morality for a while. Then him cleaving the Uzumaki and Uchiha painted eggs in two symbolizes his isolation, but then Naruto is there which states he must still have some feelings for him.
It's also just weird to watch. Words don't do it justice as to how odd it is to see Itachi alive, and Sasuke eating eggs with him like old times. Whatever the case, it's the most interesting OVA the series has produced.
Conclusion
These were 10 of the most interesting Naruto OVAs. There are well over 15, and each is worth checking out in their own way.
